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Just thought I'd point out some extra information about Zane, Kira, and their world that would otherwise be hard to work into the story. I'll probably add things as they become important in the future.

• Hassenburg, when Ember Tails takes place, is a medium-large city along the lines of Seattle, WA or Denver, CO. It's in a warmed climate than those two, though, enough so that it has an unnaturally high proportion of fire-type 'mons. Aside from having anthro Pokemon instead of humans, the culture is exactly the same as modern America.
• Zane is (for the first couple chapters of Ember Tails) thirteen years old and in seventh grade; his birthday is August 11th. His brother Marcus is almost seven years older, born on August 27th; he is a sophomore in college.
• Keith and Kira (again for the first couple chapters) are fourteen years old and in seventh grade; their birthday is May 22nd. They're much older than other seventh graders as their father put off registering them for kindergarten.
• Mrs. Sune (the twins' mom) lost a battle with cancer before the twins started preschool, so they don't really remember her aside from her being friendly and warm. Even after a year or so, Mr. Sune decided against dating again since he thought it would take too much time out of raising his kids (he wasn't confident he could find a good mom quickly) and he didn't want someone to 'replace' Mrs. Sune in the twins' minds.
• Ms. McKenzie (Marcus and Zane's mom) has had a history with Arcanine and Growlithe... Her first boyfriend, a Growlithe from middle school named Kyle Kinley, came out as gay when they started high school. Her second Growlithe boyfriend (Hans Krasser) was fine until he evolved, at which point he started getting angry with her often; she broke it off a few days after he hit her following homecoming their junior year. Then, of course, there were the two Arcanine who fathered Marcus and Zane - but those details will come out in a future chapter. ;-)
• Chapter 1 takes place in September, most of it the last weekend of the month. Chapter 2 takes place the last Thursday in October and a Tuesday mid-November (so far).
• In addition to real-world sports, Pokemon battles are a massive piece of the entertainment industry; solo battlers, battle pairs, and six-person battle teams all have dedicated competitions. (Think that battling has the justification of professional martial arts mixed with the popularity of football (soccer) in most nations.) With it popularity, almost everyone has some competency in competitive battling, as the competitions range from professional at the top through semi-pro, amateur, adult, college, high school, to youth competitions at the bottom of the pyramid.
• People can know more than four moves at once. Seriously, that's stupid shit to be limited to knowing only four moves.
• "Levels" do not exist, nor do stats or natures. (At least not in the sense they have in the games; stats in sports exist as they do normally, and of course each 'mon has their own personality.) However, there have been statistical analyses done to show that some species are stronger, tougher, faster, funnier, smarter, angrier, etc. than other species. This leads to some stereotypes and specism (like racism in our world). Due to the commonality of cross-species couples, though, (see also reproduction info below,) negative interactions are much less pervasive than in our world.
• Evolution is a rite of passage along the lines of birthdays, graduation, etc. For Pokemon that would evolve simply by level, they tend to evolve at an age between (level / 2) and (level x 2). Evolutionary stones are often gifted at one of the 'big' birthdays, i.e. 16, 18, or 21. Friendship evolutions usually are induced before, during, or after big life events. Evolution by knowing a move can occur at any time a Pokemon knows said move. Special items required for various evolutions (level up or trade) are replaced by a handful of other special stones. Stones of all types are multiple-use and only active when a Pokemon's aura (controlled by their thoughts and emotions) "accepts" evolution. Evolution cannot be canceled once induced.
• Legendary Pokemon are just that - legends.
• One aspect of the games that is strongly kept is breeding compatibility; even though all Pokemon are anthros, the egg groups still exist. Also, children will always be the species of the mother. Cross-egg-group couple thus receive more scrutiny than compatible couples (akin to mixed-race couples in the real world).
• Reproduction is otherwise more like that of real life humans. Sex is explicitly necessary (none of the ambiguity of the games), pregnancy takes roughly nine months, children are often born one at a time (though twins, triplets, etc. are possible), and childbirth is painful.
• Healthcare, like most other things, is similar to our world, with hospitals, doctors, nurses, insurance, etc. - unfortunately none of it free like in the games. (In fact, one of Shana's partners, Marcus' father, was a nurse.)
• Jobs, schools, politics, etc. are also similar to those in our world.
• Mrs. McKenzie is the business manager for a small, recently-started company founded by one of her friends. She's had trouble finding and keeping well-paying jobs in the past, and while this one doesn't provide big paychecks at the moment, the company has been going for a while now and is growing.
• Marcus is in college on a scholarship and studying social work, and he also works on the side (at the same food place he started at when he was fifteen) to provide a second income for the family. The necessity for providing and saving as much money as possible is why he lives at home instead of in the dorms with his friends.
• Mr. Sune is a freelance graphic designer, though he is perfectly happy to be employed by a company as well (and has been in the past).

And, of course, character summary of everyone we've seen (or seen mentioned) so far:

• Christopher Zane McKenzie - Our main character, an Electrike
• Howard Sune - Keith and Kira's father, a calm and creative Espeon
• Keith Tyler Sune - Zane's best friend and Kira's twin brother; the three of them are inseparable except when Keith lets the others be a couple
• Kira Nicole Sune - Zane's girlfriend of several years, a mostly-shiny Vulpix
• Marcus Lyle McKenzie - Zane's older brother by seven years, a Manectric, easy-going and maybe a little too casual about many things
• Shana McKenzie - Zane and Marcus' mother, who tries very hard to raise her boys but has always had the outside world causing problems
• Alonzo Barretto - a Nidoking eighth-grade history teacher at Hassenburgh South Middle School.
• Kyle Peters - the Flareon slugger on the Hassenburg Wildfire, the city's pro baseball team
• Mightyena coach - the gym teacher and battle coach at HSMS.
• Miss Ferber - the Golduck counselor at Zane, Kira, and Keith's middle school.
• Nelson Mare - the Wartortle security officer at the local middle school, very popular among the students there.
• Zane's history teacher - a Stantler
• Marcus' girlfriend - an Arcanine in his school year
• Marcus' father - an Arcanine
• Zane's father - a different Arcanine